Your academic performance talks about how well you did in school. Your experience speaks volumes about how well you are prepared to fit in the real world. So, while taking admissions to colleges and universities, your experience matters. Internships are a great way for students to work for a short period and gather real-life work experience.

Internships serve as a bridge between academic knowledge and real-world experience for students. They offer valuable insights into how the professional world operates which cannot be obtained from regular textbooks. Thus, it acts as a stepping stone to a student’s professional growth. Students learn about the importance of teamwork and dynamics of a workplace which help them when they step into their professional life.

Here are five benefits of an Internship:

1. Embracing the Unknown

The first day on the job for a fresher can be very intimidating. They are uncertain of what lies ahead and often get overwhelmed and stressed if they make a mistake. Instead of focusing on how to resolve it, they get worried about being called out for the mistake. Uncertainties of the unknown make the freshers anxious.

Enrolling in internships during the academic years helps with overcoming the fear of uncertainties. In an internship, you face the unknown which helps to foster growth and learning. You have hands-on experience of real-life work terrain and you realize that is it always unpredictable. As a result, you acquire the traits of adaptability and resilience and learn to face the unknown.

2. Learning Beyond the Textbook

It is a fact that textbooks are the foundation bricks to acquire knowledge in the fields that interest you. It is the ultimate source of knowledge. However, if you are unable to apply this knowledge in real-time scenarios, your understanding of the concepts stays incomplete. The application of knowledge in real-life situations solidifies your learning.

You will also find yourself implementing the knowledge you acquired from textbooks and how to adapt them to meet the demands of the workplace. An internship teaches you new lessons while you perform your basic tasks such as drafting reports, analyzing data, or developing strategies.

3. Cultivating Soft Skills

It is no secret that one of the main reasons students enroll in different programs and internships is to work on their soft skills and improve them. Soft skills such as communication, time management, and collaboration skills are equally necessary to succeed in the workplace.

As a working adult, you not only communicate with just your team members but also with members from various sectors, so improving these soft skills yields effective results in later life. An internship is the perfect place to develop and cultivate these soft skills. The several tasks that are assigned to interns from presenting a project, negotiating the deadline for the project, or providing input in an etiquette way during team meetings help them to learn how to communicate properly and also to manage time effectively.

4. Exposure to Industry Dynamics

One of the most valuable aspects of internship opportunities is the exposure to industry dynamics and trends. Being allowed in a professional setting helps students gain firsthand insight into these rapidly evolving fields.

Internships allow firsthand opportunity to be mentored by experienced professionals and receive guidance for further enhancement of their skills. It also allows you to interact with connecting with fellow interns from various backgrounds. By actively engaging with peers and mentors, you grasp a better understanding of the intricacies of the business world.

5. Enhancing the Student Profile

We are all aware of how selective renowned universities and Ivy League are with their admission procedure. They want to select the most impressive profiles for their institutes. Having a well-written letter of recommendation serves as a powerful endorsement. It provides insights into the candidate’s capabilities and character.

School authorities are always eager to help students succeed by writing a good letter of recommendation. However, when a student provides a letter of recommendation received from an institute outside of their schools, it adds extra merit to their profiles. It showcases their ability to multi-task while highlighting the fact that the student has exposure to real-time workplace terrain.

Thus it is important to enrol for internship opportunities that offer a professional letter of recommendation that will add credibility to your student profile.

Conclusion

Internship teaches how to tackle projects, adapt and collaborate with others, overcome daily challenges, push you out of your comfort zone, and encourage you to embrace the unknown.

One such internship opportunity for school students is the Artificial Intelligence Internship Program under the mentorship of (retd.) Senior Researcher of Oxford University. From working on an SDG-compliant project to owning a highly-coveted Letter of Recommendation, AIIP helps add value to your student profile. Tanush Savadi, a student who dreamed of making it to a top university, made it to a prestigious one with an unbeatable credential backed by AIIP.

Tanush Savadi was interested in areas such as Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, Machine Learning, and Data Science. During his internship at Clevered, he interacted with seasoned professionals and got exposure to cutting-edge technologies which nurtured his relevant skills and improved his productivity.

By working on projects in these domains, he delved into real-world applications of the latest technologies, gained practical skills, and developed a deeper understanding of industry trends and best practices. Clevered’s AIIP internship played a pivotal role in preparing him for a successful career in this fast-paced world.